Apple recently updated its "Optimizing Apps for iOS 6"developer page with a new pie chart highlighting the lack of fragmentation among iOS versions being run on active mobile devices (via AppleInsider). According to the chart, 93% of iOS devices accessing the App Store over a two-week period ending on June 3 were running some version of iOS 6, with 6% running iOS 5 and just 1% running earlier versions of the operating system software.
Apple's chart appears to be a direct jab at Google, which has long published its own pie chart that currently shows just 33% of devices visiting the Google Play store over the same time period running the company's latest Android 4.1-4.2 Jelly Bean versions, which began appearing last July. In fact, the most popular version of Android remains 2.3.x Gingerbread, which first appeared in December 2010.
Apple executives have increasingly focused on Android's fragmentation as a major weakness of the platform, with developers having to target many different versions of Android and numerous different devices with their apps. Apple contrasts that experience with developing for iOS, which supports a limited number of display sizes and for which the vast majority of users are running the most recent major version.
Wednesday February 12, 2025 6:49 am PST by Joe Rossignol
As the wait continues for Apple's long-rumored, fourth-generation iPhone SE, French electronics retailer Boulanger has prematurely published a product listing for a "new" model of the iPhone SE. The placeholder page says the device is "coming soon," but it offers no further information, and the price shown is obviously not real.
The listing was spotted by a reader of the French technology...
Thursday February 13, 2025 11:48 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple has yet to announce any new devices this year, but that could change starting next week.
Apple CEO Tim Cook today said to "get ready" for a "launch" on Wednesday, February 19.
"Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," said Cook, in a social media post. The post includes an #AppleLaunch hashtag, along with a short video featuring an animated Apple logo inside of a circle....
Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19.
"Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag.
The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle.
Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
Thursday February 13, 2025 5:49 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro will feature three rear cameras arranged in a familiar triangular layout, but the cameras will be housed in an all-new rectangular camera bar with rounded corners, according to YouTube channel Front Page Tech.
iPhone 17 Pro camera design render created by Asher for Front Page Tech
In a video uploaded today, Front Page Tech host Jon Prosser said the camera ...
Friday February 14, 2025 6:18 am PST by Joe Rossignol
The first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner, and the update is expected to include many new features and changes.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman expects the iOS 18.4 beta to be released by next week.
Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far.
Apple Intelligence for Siri
Siri is expected to get several enhancements powered by Apple Intelligence on iOS...
Thursday February 13, 2025 6:20 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple this week began selling refurbished Mac mini models with the M4 chip for the first time, but this has led to a pricing conundrum.
In the United States, Apple is offering a refurbished Mac mini with the base M4 chip, 256GB of storage, 16GB of RAM, and Gigabit Ethernet for $509, down from $599 new. This is the standard 15% discount that Apple offers on refurbished Macs.
The issue is...
Wednesday February 12, 2025 11:35 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today added MacBook Pro and Mac mini models with M4 series chips to its certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland for the first time since the computers were introduced in October 2024.
Some refurbished MacBook Pro models with M4 chips are also available in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and select other European countries.
...
Thursday February 13, 2025 2:45 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Last year, Apple tweaked iPhone 16 Pro screen sizes to make them bigger than 2023's iPhone 15 Pro models, and this year we are also expecting a change in the size of the displays in the iPhone 17 lineup. Here's what we know.
Standard iPhone 17
Apple could introduce a new display size for the standard iPhone 17 model in 2025. The iPhone 17 could measure in at 6.3 inches, up from 6.1 inches,...
Wednesday February 12, 2025 2:18 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple this month started advertising on X for the first time in more than a year. The company had stopped advertising on the social media platform in November 2023 following controversial remarks made by its owner Elon Musk.
For example, the @Apple account is running an ad promoting Safari's privacy features. The ad was spotted by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The @AppleTV account has a...
It's going to be more fragmented now once iOS7 is released. I have a feeling adoption rates will not be as high as previous iOS, people are afraid of change.
I think this is going to be the fastest adoption rate on record.
As someone who has developed for Android and iOS, I can tell you first hand, the fragmentation effing sucks. Google does pretty well at helping you manage it, but it still takes at least twice as long to write and test code to run on all Android devices as it does to do so with iOS devices.
And with the much smaller payoff... why bother? You're spending a lot of effort to get your app in a market that's only willing to spend 10% of what iOS users are.